The Ins and Outs of the AI Assistant by DepositPhotos
Finding the perfect visual for a creative project has long been a game of trial and error. Creative ideas don’t always translate neatly into keywords, especially when you’re trying to capture a specific mood, style, or emotional tone.
This is not to say you can’t find images using keywords. But as a project’s creative direction becomes more specific, turning that vision into the right combination of search terms often takes multiple rounds of refining, rephrasing, and trying again. Modern production demands creative workflow tools that offer a smarter, more intuitive approach to asset discovery.
The DepositPhotos AI Assistant bridges the gap between creative ideas and the visuals that bring them to life. By pairing advanced AI capabilities with a library of over 330 million licensed assets, this conversational AI redefines how creators search, generate, and edit visuals. Let’s explore how it works, its core features, and how it can streamline your daily workflow.
TL;DR:
- The DepositPhotos AI Assistant is a conversational AI tool that helps users search, generate, and refine creative assets using natural language.
- It works across images, video, music, and sound effects, combining AI-powered search with the DepositPhotos library for more intuitive content discovery.
- It supports iterative, conversational workflows that help transform ideas into ready-to-use creative outputs more efficiently.
What is an AI search engine?
An AI search engine is a tool powered by artificial intelligence and large language models (LLMs) that improves how users search for information online. By leveraging AI and LLMs, it delivers more accurate context-aware results and functions as a conversational search engine that enhances workflows, creative output, and overall efficiency.
How AI search differs from traditional keyword search
AI-powered search works differently from traditional keyword search because it prioritizes intent and context over exact keyword matching. This makes it possible to understand complex or nuanced creative ideas and return more relevant results. Traditional keyword search works well for simple queries, but it can struggle with abstract or highly specific requests, where generative search offers a more effective solution.
Understanding intent instead of matching keywords
Adding keywords in isolation often limits how clearly complex or nuanced ideas are expressed. Semantic search AI overcomes this limitation by focusing on intent and context rather than keyword matching, improving the accuracy and relevance of results.
Of course, this is not to say that AI-driven engines deliver 100% accuracy. However, using natural language search in a conversational format allows you to iteratively refine outputs. This not only saves time and effort but also helps you follow your train of thought more fluidly.
How DepositPhotos AI Assistant works
You can use the AI Assistant for multiple tasks that go far beyond simply finding licensed images in the DepositPhotos library. This advanced AI search assistant combines conversational search, context-aware content discovery, and iterative refinement into a single workflow.
Conversational search for content
The DepositPhotos AI Assistant lets you describe ideas the same way you would explain them to a teammate. You don’t need to translate your thoughts into keywords—you can simply express what you have in mind, in your own words and style, and the Assistant will understand and respond with relevant visual content.
For example, if you’re working on a blog article covering complex workplace wellness topics, you might say: “I’m writing a blog about digital well-being and remote work burnout. Please suggest relevant images.” The AI Assistant will deliver a set of visuals that can be used throughout your content to support structure and storytelling.
Context-aware content discovery
One of the key strengths of the AI Assistant is its ability to understand the broader context of your project. It takes into account your goals, prior messages, and evolving direction to interpret increasingly complex requests. The more clearly you describe your creative needs, challenges, or constraints, the more useful and aligned its suggestions become over time.
Imagine you’re exploring neighborhood aesthetics. You might say: “I’m looking for images of visually appealing neighborhoods that feel lived-in and authentic, focusing on everyday residential environments rather than staged or commercial scenes.” The AI Assistant will interpret this context and deliver relevant visuals aligned with your intent.
Iterative search refinement
You can refine results within the same conversation instead of starting over. Like other conversational AI tools such as Gemini or ChatGPT, it allows you to build on previous messages, refine requests, and adjust direction within a single ongoing conversation.
For example, if you’re looking for lifestyle images, you can start with a broad request and then refine it by asking for more specific variations, such as more authentic scenes or settings like a beach or a forest.
This progressive refinement helps narrow results over time and produce more accurate, tailored outputs. It is especially useful for brand consistency, helping maintain a coherent visual style, tone, and color direction across assets without switching between tools or platforms.
Key features and capabilities of the AI Assistant
Creative exploration and inspiration
Use the AI Assistant to quickly explore different visual directions, aesthetic approaches, and design inspiration before starting your search. You can experiment with ideas in a conversational way and compare creative styles without committing to a single direction too early.
For example, you might explore mood-based prompts like: “What visual direction would best capture a calm, modern wellness brand?” or contrast distinct aesthetics such as “warm, documentary-style photography vs. high-contrast studio visuals for a fashion campaign.” This makes it easier to quickly identify the look and feel that best fits your project.
AI content search and discovery
With the DepositPhotos AI Assistant, visual AI search and discovery becomes more intuitive, allowing you to find relevant licensed content using natural language. Beyond images, you can discover other creative assets, with contextual suggestions based on your request.
If you’re creating a seasonal campaign, you can describe the soundtrack you’re looking for in natural language: “Find a soundtrack for a luxury travel brand launching seasonal tours in Norway.” You can also specify the style or mood, and the Assistant will search DepositPhotos’ library to surface matching audio content.
Refining results through conversation
Refine your results without restarting the process. Whether you’re working on an image, a text outline, a presentation, or a description, you can continue the conversation, add new requirements, and adjust your request as your ideas evolve.
Imagine you’re looking for an image of a cozy coffee shop with a modern feel on a rainy autumn afternoon. You might start with that request and then follow up with: “Show a more contemporary interior and include the coffee counter in the background.” As the results get closer to your vision, you can continue refining them with additional requests.
Image generation
Beyond image search, the AI Assistant also supports image generation. As a multimodal AI system, it helps you turn ideas into well-structured prompts, generate unique images, and refine results in the same conversation.
The process is straightforward:
- Describe the image you want to create in natural language.
- The AI Assistant generates an original image based on your prompt.
- If needed, continue the conversation to adjust the composition, style, mood, or other details until the result matches your vision.
- Download the final image, ready for commercial or personal use.
Image editing
Whether you want to remove or replace objects, change the background, extend the canvas, enhance resolution, or adapt an image for a different format, you can describe the changes you have in mind without using traditional editing tools.
For example, you can upload an image and ask the AI Assistant to remove the background. It can replace it with a transparent background, a solid color, or a new scene, such as an office, a natural landscape, or an abstract setting. You can also adjust the image’s style or mood through the same conversational workflow.
Common use cases for AI search
Finding stock images with ease
DepositPhotos’ advanced search tools already make it easy to find images through filters and search parameters. The AI Assistant adds another layer by helping you discover the right creative assets through a conversational workflow, especially when your request involves style, context, mood, or specific creative constraints.
Whether you need a website hero image, a print flyer visual, a YouTube thumbnail, a blog illustration, or an Instagram Story asset, the Assistant can help narrow your search by clarifying the topic, target audience, composition, and practical requirements.
Exploring styles, moods, and visual concepts
The AI Assistant helps you explore different visual styles, moods, and creative concepts when you’re looking for inspiration or comparing creative directions. By combining conversational AI with the DepositPhotos content library, it can surface relevant references, suggest alternative aesthetics, and introduce ideas you might not have considered.
You don’t need prompt engineering expertise to get started. Whether you’re exploring, generating, editing, or searching for content, each workflow begins with suggested prompts that make it easy to experiment, discover new directions, and refine your ideas.
Creating custom visuals with AI generation
Turning abstract ideas into custom visuals is one of the AI Assistant’s core strengths. From campaign concepts to social media graphics, advertisements, presentations, and product visuals, it helps bring concepts to life with polished, AI-generated images.
The AI Assistant supports marketing, content, and creative teams throughout the creative process. Beyond generating custom visuals, it helps refine creative ideas and prompts, making it easier to achieve the desired result.
Editing assets for specific campaign needs
If you have a creative asset that fits your campaign but needs adjustments, the AI Assistant can help refine it. You can provide an image and describe the changes you want, such as resizing it, removing the background, or making other visual improvements.
For more advanced design work, you can move your project into the VistaCreate editor and choose from ready-made templates for social media posts, ads, banners, posters, and thumbnails. There, you can also create and apply a brand kit with your logo, colors, and fonts to maintain visual consistency across your assets.
Supporting marketing and design workflows
The AI Assistant helps support real-world marketing and design workflows, from early creative exploration to the production of campaign-ready visuals. Powered by AI recommendation systems, it can suggest and generate assets tailored to different channels, formats, and use cases.
- Performance ads: Meta, Google, TikTok, LinkedIn—visuals tailored to each placement and format.
- Brand and content marketing: blog headers, email hero images, visuals for lead magnets, white papers, and case studies.
- Social media: post series, Stories/Reels covers, carousels, and channel art.
- Product and e-commerce: product mockups, lifestyle product shots, and isolated packshots.
- Presentations and pitch decks: clean, on-brand visuals that support your narrative.
Using the AI Assistant: best practices and limitations
How to get better search results
- Define the subject clearly: Specify who or what the image should include (person, object, or place), what is happening, and the environment (office, studio, nature, etc.).
- Add style and mood details: Combine your subject with visual direction keywords such as minimal, flat, cinematic, cozy, bright, or dramatic.
- Include format or use case: Mention how the asset will be used, for example, isolated object on a white background, square social media post, or seamless pattern.
- Specify content type: Clarify whether you need a photo, illustration, vector, video, or music/audio track.
- Add context or industry. Optionally include the target industry or audience, such as corporate, lifestyle, education, or advertising.
- Be precise and descriptive overall: The more structured your prompt, the more relevant the results.
When AI search works best
AI-based search works best when your request has a clear visual intent and combines several attributes in a single concise query. This focus on context yields an immediate improvement in search relevance.
Suppose you need an image highlighting your custom apparel. A good prompt would be: “minimal luxury shirt on a complementary background with a copy space for website hero.”
It’s most effective when you refine results with short follow-ups instead of starting over. For instance, you can follow up with phrases like “find more minimalistic pictures” or “swap for brighter colors.”
This approach removes the guesswork around how to use AI to search for an image effectively, making the process more intuitive and focused on incremental refinement rather than rewriting full prompts.
Current limitations and considerations
As the DepositPhotos AI Assistant is currently in beta, occasional inaccuracies in responses may occur. If this happens, you can refine your request by clarifying the prompt or continuing the conversation in a new chat.
The Assistant also supports a range of in-app editing capabilities, but more advanced design needs may require additional tools. In such cases, it can guide you toward using the VistaCreate editor, where you can further refine and expand your creative work efficiently.
Conclusion
The DepositPhotos AI Assistant helps you search licensed content, generate images, edit visuals, and refine results in one continuous conversation. Instead of switching between multiple creative tools, you can move from idea to finished asset within a single workflow.
Whether you’re building marketing campaigns, creating product listings, designing social media content, or exploring creative ideas, the AI Assistant provides a more natural, conversational way to bring your visual vision to life.
Get started with the AI AssistantFAQ
Who can benefit from the AI Assistant?
The DepositPhotos AI Assistant is beneficial for marketers, designers, content creators, social media managers, small business owners, and agencies who need to find or create assets quickly. It is also helpful for users who want to edit or adapt visuals within a conversational workflow.
What types of requests work best?
Clear requests that combine subject, style or mood, context, and intended use case work best. For example:
- “Find minimal vector icons for a finance app”
- “I need a cinematic image of a night city street for an Instagram background post”
- “I’m looking for a square photo of a happy diverse team in a modern office”
- “Find footage of a group of women stretching in the park”
- “I need a soothing sound effect for a marketing campaign about a new eco fragrance”
How does the AI Assistant choose results?
The AI Assistant searches the DepositPhotos library and surfaces assets based on relevance to your described subject, style, context, and attributes. It evaluates available previews, titles, and tags to identify the closest matches to your request.
